τε?

[Lukas]

Χαιρετε!
Is it legal for "τε" to come between an article and a noun? Beginning with Unit 14 of Introduction to Attic Greek, Dr. Mastronarde writes down some sentences in Greek. He wants students to translate them in our head without writing them down, so we can start getting used to reading Greek. I have to confess that I wrote down part of a sentence and used a glossary and dictionary with the same sentence. The sentence I had to read is,

"δεῖ τὸν ῾Ηρακλέα κρατεῖν τόν τ᾿ ἐν Νεμέᾳ λέοντα τούς τε γίγαντας τά τε καθ᾿ ῾Ελλάδα τέρατα.."
If a "te" can come between an article and noun, I came up with this awkward translation,

"It is necessary for Hercules to conquer the in Nemea lion and the giants and the concerning (or throughout?) Greece portents."

[bedwere]

Yes, it's 100% legal.

Regarding your translation:

"It is necessary for Hercules to conquer the lion in Nemea and the giants and the monsters throughout Greece.

It's OK to be literal when translating, but at least words should be ordered as it is natural in English.

[Lukas]

Ευχαριστώ!

When I have a question, I start out by being literal as possible and then change words around after the question is answered.

[bedwere]

You should try to understand the general sense and not to translate word by word though.